DSCR Loan Illinois 2026: Cook County Tax and 4,628 Loans

Illinois is Cook County, then five smaller markets

A statewide median hides how different the pieces are. The table splits the 4,628 loans into six areas drawn from county codes (our grouping, listed in the first column), so each row is a set of whole counties. HMDA gives the county and the census tract, not the city, so Chicago cannot be separated from the rest of Cook County.

Illinois DSCR-type loans in 2025 by area (HMDA, our grouping)

Three markets show up. Cook County and the collar counties are the expensive ones: median property values of $305,000 and $295,000, and in Cook one loan in three is on a 2-4 unit building against about one in nine in the collar counties. Rockford, the Metro East side of St. Louis and Peoria are low-price markets where the median property is $95,000 to $135,000 and the median loan $75,000 to $105,000, small enough that fixed lender costs weigh heavily. The rest of the state is an entity market: 60.1% of its loans went to LLCs, corporations or trusts. The last column counts short-term loans (36 months or less, the bridge and fix-and-flip type) per 100 DSCR-type loans; the rest of Illinois had 79 against 8.2 in the Rockford area, so a Rockford buyer who flips with bridge money finds few lenders in the public record. The statewide entity share fell from 50.5% to 37.2% between 2024 and 2025, and the broker and correspondent share rose from 49.9% to 58.1% (our arithmetic).

Cook County property tax: the line that moves the ratio

A DSCR lender divides the rent by principal, interest, taxes and insurance, so the tax bill is in the denominator. In Cook County it is large and it depends on where the building sits. The Clerk's 2025 tax rate report, released September 23, 2026, lists the average rates for 2025 and 2024.

Cook County Clerk: average tax rates and average single-family bills, tax year 2025

Read the footnote before using these bills. The Clerk calculates a sample residential bill as the assessor's market value times a 10% assessment level times the equalization factor, minus the homeowner exemption, times the rate, and it warns that a property that loses the exemption “could be up to 10,000 higher” in taxable value. The Illinois Department of Revenue set the final 2025 Cook County factor at 3.0300 (3.0355 for 2024). A rental owner should therefore not subtract the exemption: on a $250,000 property the Clerk's own Chicago sample is $4,505.95, and the same property without the $10,000 deduction would be $5,191.15 (our arithmetic). Check with the Cook County Assessor which exemptions a rental receives.

We put the formula inside a DSCR calculation. The example is a rental worth $305,000 (the Cook County median property value among 2025 DSCR-type loans), a loan of 75% of value at 7.5% (the Cook median rate) over 30 years, and no exemption. Principal and interest are $1,599.45 a month in every row; only the tax changes. Insurance and other costs are not included, so a real lender's figure will be higher.

One $305,000 rental in three Cook County tax settings, 2025 rates (our arithmetic)

On principal and interest alone the same loan needs $1,999.32 of rent for a 1.25 ratio. Tax adds $659.70 a month to that figure in Chicago and $1,141.90 in the south and west suburbs (our arithmetic), and takes 24.8% and 36.4% of the monthly payment. A $2,500 rent clears 1.0 in Chicago and the north and northwest suburbs and misses it in the south and west suburbs. These are region averages for the suburbs (total tax divided by total equalized assessed value), so a given tax code can differ; look up the building's own rate and last bill before you quote a ratio.

Two dates matter. The Clerk says the City of Chicago was reassessed for tax year 2024 and will be reassessed again for tax year 2027, payable in 2028, while the South and West suburbs are being reassessed for tax year 2026, payable in 2027. The North and Northwest suburbs were reassessed for 2025 and their total assessment rose 20.6%. The tax cap law allowed districts 2.9% more revenue for 2025 and allows 2.6% for 2026. Our Cook County appeal results and the appeal guide for investment property cover what a successful appeal is worth, and the DSCR calculator lets you put in your own tax bill.

Who lends in Illinois, and who lends outside Cook County

Top 10 DSCR-type lenders in Illinois by 2025 loans (names as filed with HMDA)

The top 10 made 57.7% of the 4,628 loans and 117 lenders filed at least one (96 in 2024). Two names hold more than a quarter of the state between them, and they serve different customers. United Wholesale Mortgage (684 loans, all through brokers) and BPL Mortgage (348) make small loans, $105,000 at the median. Loan Funder LLC (589 loans, about three-quarters direct) makes $195,000 loans at a 7.27% median, the second lowest in the top 10 after RF Renovo's 7.1%. The two fastest risers were HomeXpress Mortgage Corp. (12 loans in 2024, 155 in 2025) and CrossCountry Mortgage (48 to 127).

The split by geography is sharper. Cook County had 100 lenders with at least one loan, and Loan Funder LLC led with 401 of 2,538 (15.8%, median 7.25%), ahead of United Wholesale Mortgage (223, 7.875%), Velocity Commercial Capital (151, 9.99%), BPL Mortgage (144) and RF Renovo (116, 7.075%). Outside Cook County there were 2,090 loans at a $155,000 median loan, and United Wholesale Mortgage made 461 of them (median loan $85,000), BPL Mortgage 204 and Loan Funder LLC 188. Cook County also had 1,281 short-term investor loans in 2025, led by Loan Funder LLC (377), RF Renovo (221) and Kiavi (187), so in Chicago a borrower who finishes a rehab is often refinancing out of one of these lenders into a 30-year loan.

Velocity Commercial Capital made 203 Illinois loans at a 10.115% median (110 loans and 10.865% in 2024), every one through brokers. A “DSCR rate” of 10% in Chicago is that lender's product and not a market price; see our Velocity Financial review.

The lenders investors search for by name

Lenders investors search for by name: their Illinois HMDA records, 2025

Does Kiavi lend in Illinois? Kiavi's own “States Kiavi Lends In” page says “Kiavi currently offers hard money loans to entities in” a list of states that includes IL, and its legal footer lists IL among the jurisdictions where bridge loans are “originated and funded by Kiavi Funding, LLC.” The same page states that “All DSCR and Rental Loans are originated and funded by Figure Lending LLC dba Figure effective 9/1/2026” and lists no states for those loans, so the page itself does not say which states take a rental loan. What the federal record shows is that KIAVI FUNDING, INC. made 142 DSCR-type loans in Illinois in 2025 (110 in 2024) and 321 short-term loans, its Illinois bridge business being more than twice its rental business. Our Kiavi review compares its published terms. Griffin Funding shows only 2 loans, which reflects how a loan is listed under the institution that reported it, not how many borrowers it served.

Illinois next to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California

DSCR-type loans in five states, 2025 (HMDA, same definition)

Illinois and California have the lowest DSCR shares, 20.8% and 20.6%, which means most of an Illinois investor's peers still borrow against their own income: the 2,331 conventional investor loans had a 7% median rate against 7.5% for DSCR-type loans. For comparison with the neighbours, see our Ohio and Michigan pages. Inside Illinois, the Rockford, Metro East and Peoria markets made 677 loans, 14.6% of the state, with median loans of $75,000 to $105,000 (our arithmetic).

What the 2025 rate spread costs on an Illinois loan

Monthly principal and interest on a $185,000 loan, 30-year fixed, at each Illinois 2025 rate (our arithmetic)

The 25th-to-75th percentile gap is $109.80 a month, $1,317.55 a year. The DSCR median sits $62.74 a month above the conventional investor median, but those borrowers documented income, so this compares two markets, not two quotes for one file. Compare that with the tax table above: moving the same rental from Chicago to the south and west suburbs adds $385.76 a month to the payment (our arithmetic), more than three times the rate spread. In Illinois the property's tax code can matter more than the lender's price. By loan size, 1,641 loans were under $150,000 at a 7.625% median and 224 loans of $500,000 to $999,999 at 7.375%. Direct applications priced at 7.41% (1,940 loans) against 7.625% through brokers (2,688 loans).

Illinois licensing: what IDFPR says about investment-property lenders

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) administers the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987 (205 ILCS 635). Its Private Lending Exemption Certificate notice, effective January 1, 2026, quotes the Act's definition of a residential mortgage loan as “any loan primarily for personal, family, or household use” secured by a dwelling, and defines a private lender as a person who makes loans “with his or her own funds” with no intent to make, acquire or resell more than 3 residential mortgage loans in a calendar year. Three points follow from IDFPR's text:

• A business-purpose loan is outside the quoted definition. A DSCR loan is made for a business purpose, so on that wording it is not a "residential mortgage loan." That is our reading of the quoted text, not IDFPR's statement, and it is the reason lender licensing questions are best put to IDFPR or counsel.
• IDFPR does not issue private-lender certificates for investment property. The notice says the Department "will not issue a PLEC for commercial, investment or non-owner-occupied property" and tells those lenders to contact an Anti-Predatory Lending Database (APLD) registered closing agent or title company.
• Four counties have a recording rule. A PLEC must be attached to private lender mortgages for recording in Cook, Kane, Will and Peoria counties, which are the APLD counties. IDFPR's APLD FAQ says exempt lenders generally need a certificate of exemption, that loans must be entered within 10 business days, and that counseling cost to the broker cannot exceed $300.

For a borrower the practical step is to ask the lender and the title company which certificate the file needs before the closing date. For the rest of the licensing picture, our DSCR requirements page and the DSCR loan LLC page cover what lenders ask of an entity. We could not read the Interest Act or the full text of the licensing act on the legislature's site for this page, so statements here are limited to IDFPR's own published notices.

Eviction and rental rules a DSCR underwriter prices

The Illinois Supreme Court's approved forms and instructions set the sequence a landlord follows, and several steps cost time that a DSCR calculation does not show.

• Notice first. The statewide notice for non-payment of rent is commonly called a "5-Day Notice," and the form says the lease or local law may require longer. Chicago requires written notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before the lease ends.
• Service before court. The sheriff must serve the defendants at least 3 days before the first court date, and 7 days in Cook County. Adding the 5-day notice to the 7-day service rule gives at least 12 days before a first Cook County hearing, before any continuance (our arithmetic, a floor and not a forecast).
• Entities need a lawyer. The court instructions say that if a corporation or LLC owns the property, it must hire a lawyer, and property managers cannot file on behalf of the owner. In 2025, 37.2% of Illinois DSCR-type loans (1,720) went to entities, so this applies to more than a third of these borrowers.
• Chicago deposits. The City's page sets the interest rate on security deposits at 0.01% for January 1 to December 31, 2026, with damages itemized within 30 days and the deposit and interest returned within 45 days of the tenant vacating.
• Rental assistance notice. Every residential eviction summons must include a notice about Court-Based Rental Assistance, in English and Spanish, and the Circuit Court of Cook County hears evictions in its Forcible Entry and Detainer Section in the First Municipal District.

Using the Chicago example, each month a unit sits unpaid costs $2,127.22 of principal, interest and tax (our arithmetic), before the court steps above. Whether a lender haircuts rent in a market is its own underwriting rule; ask how it treats vacancy and how it counts rent on a 2-4 unit building, which is a third of Cook County's DSCR-type loans.

What an Illinois investor can do with this

1. Run the tax before the rate. Get the property's last Cook County bill and tax code, then use the formula above: value times 10% times the equalization factor times the rate, with no homeowner exemption. A 1.25 ratio needs about $2,659 of rent in Chicago and about $3,141 in the south and west suburbs on our $305,000 example.
2. Place a quote against your own area. A rate at or below 7.125% was in the cheapest quarter of Illinois DSCR-type loans in 2025; at or above 7.99% it was in the costliest. Rates move, so use 2025 as a range and get today's quote.
3. Outside Cook County, check the lender's loan floor. The two largest lenders there made $85,000 median loans, so a lender that wants $200,000 will be a different list.
4. Know which lender you are looking at. A 10% quote from a lender whose Illinois median is 10.115% is that lender's product, not the market.
5. Ask the title company which APLD certificate applies if the property is in Cook, Kane, Will or Peoria county.
6. Budget the eviction clock. An LLC landlord needs a lawyer to file; ask your lender how vacancy is treated. Our DSCR rates page shows current quotes by borrower tier.

FAQ

Loan-level data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA Data Browser, Illinois originated conventional loans for 2024 and 2025 (downloaded October 22, 2026), plus the Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California 2025 files used for the comparison (request URLs in the data file; scripts and extracts in sources/hmda/); definitions from the Regulation C commentary and the FFIEC HMDA field list; lender names from the FFIEC filer lists; county names from the Census Bureau 2020 county list; the regional groupings and every percentile, median, share, payment and tax figure are our arithmetic; the Cook County Clerk's 2025 tax rate report and press release (September 23, 2026); the Illinois Department of Revenue's 2025 Cook County multiplier notice (June 18, 2026); IDFPR's Private Lending Exemption Certificate notice and Anti-Predatory Lending Database FAQ; the Illinois Courts approved eviction forms and instructions; the Circuit Court of Cook County eviction pages; the City of Chicago security deposit interest page; and kiavi.com's States Kiavi Lends In page, all read October 22, 2026. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice, and not a loan offer.